Philips Hue Go serves up colorful light on the go

Philips Hue lights let users choose the brightness and color of light they want for any room. Now, a new Hue device lets you carry your chosen ambience around in a portable bowl-sized light as well. The Philips Hue Go is a portable lamp that users can control with their smartphone.

Philips says the Hue Go is designed to change the way in which light is used in the home. Unlike conventional fixed lights, it can be unplugged, moved around and used as a "portable center piece" wherever it is placed. It has a battery life of up to three hours when unplugged.

As mentioned, the device is shaped like a covered bowl, meaning it can be placed with its flat surface facing down, facing up or tilted to one side. Light is emitted from both the curved section of the device and the flat surface, but the flat surface is brighter and so allows you to direct light depending on how the device is positioned.

The Hue Go allows users to choose from more than 16 million colors and seven different lighting effects. It can be controlled via a button on the device itself or via the Philips Hue app on a user's smartphone.

As with other Hue devices, the Go can interact with third-party apps, of which there are over 200 available. In this way, it can be used to alert users of, say, a new email or change in the weather by way of a discrete light notification.

The Philips Hue Go will be available in Europe from this month and in North America from June. It will retain for €99.95 (US$109).